A Transit Ad That Puts Car Commercials to Shame

This new ad from Västtrafik, Sweden’s second-largest public transportation company, has all the well-worn cliches of a good car commercial: the baritone narrator, the stunning landscapes, the empty roads. What’s different about this ad is that what it’s selling will help preserve that natural scenery, rather than pave and pollute it.

If only public transit in the United States had the same marketing bucks behind it that car companies do, maybe people wouldn’t be spending $42,000 — not much less than the median American household income — on a used GMC Sierra.

Which is not to say that there aren’t any good transit commercials stateside. This won’t likely be dominating the airwaves during the big game, but it’s another good spin on the car ad:

That’s my favorite bus! My goodness that is the nerdiest thing I’ve said today. They came into London shortly after the congestion zone started, and they were so easy to board (unfortunately a couple caught fire, but hopefully they fixed that!)

The environmental angle for walking, cycling and public transport is only of limited interest.

Government bodies need to have environmental goals, but for marketing have to translate this in a way that is emotionally appealing, but honest. And not always so explicit! Don’t insult the intelligence of potential users!

Västtrafik nailed everything on this ad! What I liked most about it was showing that the roads are empty, just like ALL the car commercials.

Does anyone ever pay attention how many car commercial there are on prime time broadcasting? I even see car commercials on PBS broadcasts! OK they aren’t as dumb as the ones on major networks, but still.

Probably because this is a advertising style that is very common in the US. It perhaps wouldn’t make sense in swedish. That’s only my guess though.

M.

The real complaint is why our relatively piddly taxes go for destruction (warfare) while other countries use theirs to build infrastructure of every type.

Anonymous

The US military basically subsidizes the rest of the world. We’re the one with the fleets of ships, air bases full of F-22s, and army bases of troops patrolling the world, not them. European countries have drastically reduce their military budget because they don’t need to field much.

Aron

Because of dramatism. Think of American TV dramas, movie trailers, etc that use a low american voice. It would sound less dramatic and weirder in Swedish, because TV is in English (with subs) so they’re used to it.

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